[thetradingdoctor]

You are most welcome re: "immense enlightenment", Torero, and I thank you in return for your kindness!

Making money in the markets is a byprodut of doing the right thing at the right time. This means following a backtested successful trading plan and remaining disciplined.

Among the first posts I put on this section of the message board was something to the extent that the markets are neither bullish nor bearish. They are neutal. The markets ebb and flow as millions of traders make decisions based on their beliefs. It is the trader who is the true variable in the markets. Each of us is a variable.

I have written and spoken extensively on the topic of money as taboo and addiction. In my opinion, money is more addicting than any other legal substance and likely more addicting that heroin or crack cocaine.

How do you break this addiction and put trading into perspective? You train your brain. You lay down synaptic strategies that modulate the emotions of fear, greed, disgust, anger, envy, euphoria, and every other emotion which springs from the limbic, rat brain by forcing it to "check in" with the logical, cortical new brain. If you have any questions about my most recent article
"This Is Your Brain On Trading" please do not hesitate to ask me? This is my first attempt to actually show traders what goes on in their brains when they make decisions and the first time I have written in such detail about the concept of synaptic strategies.

That said, and remembering all of the above, here is what I have learned:

When you really, truly, deeply, madly and honestly believe that trading is simply a game of probability everything in your brain changes and you are on the road to "entraining" succcessful synaptic strategies. The reason for this is because concepts such as: right or wrong and losing or winning take on an entirely new significance. You will come to understand at the deepest levels of your brain that of the next 30 trades, something like 20 will have a positive outcome and 10 will have a negative outcome. You can test and backtest this with your system. What you do not know, and cannot know with any certainty is which of the trades will work and which will not work. You also cannot know with any certainty how much money the market mistress will be kind enough to give you through these positive trades.

If you are able to think in probabilities, and to give up attachment to outcome, you will most likely come to the point where you realize that making money is nothing more than doing the right thing at the right time.

I hope this helps a little bit?

Thanks, Torero and all of the wonderful brains on this thread!

Doctor Janice

[darthtrader]

Just to add, I've always found great inspiration from the great misers from market history if its hard to seperate money from trading.
Niederhoffer I think gets into this in one of his books or on daily speculations.
John Paul Getty was the world's richest man in the 50s, but I think I read a story where he was on a date at an ice skating rink and spent an exta half hour in a line in order to save 10 cents. In today's dollars i think that would be basically being a billionaire and waiting in line to save 1 dollar.
Hetty Green was the world's richest woman at one point basically.
"Green was mainly interested in business, and there are many tales (of various degrees of accuracy) about her stinginess. She never turned on the heat nor used hot water."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green

[TheRumpledOne]

"This Is Your Brain On Trading" that was a great SFO article.

Also comparing trading to "only swinging at the pitches you can hit" really hit home ( puns intended ).

Trading without thinking is what has to happen... all reaction. Just like hitting a baseball. You don't have time to think - you just see and react. Sometimes you get a hit and sometimes you don't.

"Swinging at bad pitches" causes the losing trades. As soon as I do it, I know it. Why do I do it? I get sucked in to the market rather than waiting for the next good pitch. To avoid getting sucked in, I just repeat "wait for your pitch" over and over... that simple.

I never concern myself with what others are trading, how much they are making, what systems/indicators they are using, what's the hot trade of the day, etc... I just trade the same stock and currencies day after day after day. It's actually pretty "boring" most of the time. It's only exciting when I mess up!

[Anna-Maria]

Originally Posted by TheRumpledOne »

Trading without thinking is what has to happen... You don't have time to think - you just see and react. Sometimes you get a hit and sometimes you don't.

....I just trade the same stock and currencies day after day after day. It's actually pretty "boring" most of the time. It's only exciting when I mess up!

That's a great post!

I particularly like the highlighted comments, I like those a whole lot.

If you're adequately capitalized in the first place, got yourself a small toolbox of goodies which do the job often enough (strategies for your favored situations) to keep your acc't happy, then fear doesn't come into it.

Don't know bout you, but I do this to make s*** loads of dollars, period. Always have. I'm out of here well before I hit 50.

My brother (who I respect as a trader immensely) doesn't actually like the goddamned business we're in LOL, but like he say's: until someone is dumb enough to pay him an insane amount of money for using his common sense, then he'll run down this clock until he bores himself to death.

I don't care what anyone say's - money is the only reason I/we trade. If I wanted to have a wonderful time (at work), I'd go be a CEO at a fancy shoe company!

[BlowFish]

Originally Posted by thetradingdoctor »

___Snip___

When you really, truly, deeply, madly and honestly believe that trading is simply a game of probability everything in your brain changes and you are on the road to "entraining" succcessful synaptic strategies.

___Snip___

Doctor Janice

The problem comes (I suspect) even if you 'truly madly deeply' believe this at ever concious level - and - even if work diligently to ingrain it into your subconscious. Many of us still have this basic 'protection' mechanism that things it is helping us. Very interesting concept that money is the last great taboo, it is no wonder that if trading has stripped large portions of money away from us that the subconscious believes it is helping by protecting us from the market. Of course it usually gets us in late or out early in its effort to reduce our exposure.

As yet I have not found a truly effective way to re-train those subconcious 'protection' mechanisms.